When money talks ... BSY walks, says Congress

The Congress on Monday upped its ante against the BJP over its "failure to act" against Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa who has been reportedly indicted by Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hedge in the illegal mining scam.

The Congress on Monday upped its ante against the BJP over its "failure to act" against Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa who has been reportedly indicted by Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hedge in the illegal mining scam.

The party plans to make Lokayukta report an issue in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said: "Money talks and Yeddy walks...The question is not that Yeddyurappa is Cauvery of corruption. The question is why he is still occupying the post of chief minister. The reason that comes to mind is that when the poisonous fruit of illegal mining was chopped in Karnataka, it was distributed equally at the top echelons of the BJP."

The attack came in response to the BJP demand for resignation of PM Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram over allegations by ex-telecom minister A Raja that the transactions made in the 2G allocation were known to the two. Tewari alleged the weakness of the BJP leadership was not limited to Yeddyurappa but also to its leaders in states such as Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

"It goes via Raipur, Bengaluru and Gandhinagar to Nagpur. Yeddyurappa is an important link in this. He is without fear," Tewari said.

"When there is a direction from Bengaluru that the party should jump in defence of Yeddyurappa, they don't ask why but ask how high and how many times," he said.

The Congress plans to launch protests across the state. "We will launch a district-wise protest programme. We will also organize a torch rally in Bangalore to highlight to the people the status of this government," party general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Madhusudan Mistry told HT from Bangalore.